M7 Darken
by BML Hillen-Keene
Summary: An M7 short fic based off my novel, Darken.


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The story setting is an originalone that I am currently trying to get published, Darken (check out my website www(.)bmlhillenkeene(.)webs(.)com for the first two chapters of the original (please review it if you do read it)). But I thought I would see if anyone found the concept interesting. I've decided to use the very versatile characters of the M7 series, because hell, these guys and fit into everything, and I trust your opinions and I know you would be brutally honest with me. This is a oneshot and will forever remain a oneshot, so please do not ask for updates or continuations (if you do like it) you'll just have to wait for my original novel to be published for that sort of thing.

**Magnificent Seven--Darken Idea fic**

The Darken were not an organised body of creatures. They had no structure, no weapons, and no defence. But what they lacked they made up for, tenfold. Who needed organisation when sheer numbers and brute strength would suffice. Who needed weapons when fear left a victim frozen long enough for claws and teeth to rip them apart. Who needed defence when you had the indubitable knowledge that you and your kind would win. The remaining humans were fighting a losing battle--inside every one of them was a Darken waiting to break out. To the Darken this was the simple truth--the only truth they knew.

But watching the human race struggle, fight for breath even though the waters were closing in over their heads, brought a perverse delight to the Darken. It didn't matter how many of them died, attacking and breaking down the human defences, watching as recognition and fear fixed itself onto their faces, listening to the screams and cries. The pleasure of hearing them beg to be spared from something that would take them all eventually.

Life, to the Darken, was all about the fulfilment of their desires; and the human cities bore the gratification within their walls. It was to the nearest sealed city that these Darken had been travelling to; intent to breach the walls and reign terror in the streets. A feat that lay unaccomplished for many years.

The first shots into their midst did nothing to anger them; the Darken did not feel pain, it was assimilated and translated into the urge to find, hunt, toy with and kill the one behind it. As the shots continued the Darken became excited. Only humans carried guns.

To the Darken the game was on.

To the humans, the battle was joined.

Ezra Standish was ready for the Darken, he could hear the bark of Vin's rifle somewhere in the background, picking off the Darken one by one. The only problem with sniping the Darken was the fact that it always took two or three bullets to kill it, even if one was shot through the head, as most of Vin's shots tended to be, so even though they had the privilege of having a Sniper, it didn't really even their odds as much as one would think. His gun's were heavy in his hands, but there was not the nervous sweat there any longer, years of this had quickly forced that nervousness out of him. The Darken heaved and rushed, each step brought them closer. They fought and they squabbled, slashing at each other, each wanting to reach the humans before the others did, each one wanting to be the first to elicit a scream.

Over the com Ezra could hear Buck and JD trading quickfire jokes, trying to keep the boys nerves in check, to be tense facing the Darken was the first mistake, you couldn't move fast enough. Josiah was praying, his words soft and barely heard, but there, and Ezra took comfort in the routine, though he had stopped believing in god when his father had died. Nathan, though he made no sound, was probably doing a quick recount of what was in his med kit which was waiting in the truck; on top of which Vin was perched and shooting.

Ezra and Chris were at the front, some 400m in front of the truck, with Buck and JD a good 500m to the east and making their way behind the darken that way, Josaih and Nathan doing the same to the west. Ezra did not look at Chris Larabee, who was the official leader of the Shadow Company, the one they all looked to for orders; he already knew that the Captain would be standing, imposing and just as frightening as the Darken themselves, hand on his gun, waiting.

And then the Darken were upon them, and Ezra was surrounded by the oppressive force of them. The darkness, the sheer level of malevolence. And he was moving. You couldn't afford to stand still, they would tear you apart. His guns went off and he dodged the sweeping, deadly claws, shooting again, and again. No shot was a killing shot on it's own, and there was no time to focus on killing just one. Engaging with the Darken meant moving fast, shooting and trusting that someone had your back.

There were those in the armed forces who thought it odd then that Chris and Ezra were paired when engaging with the Darken, the Captain of the shadow Company was considered to be half a step away from becoming a Darken himself, and Ezra was the most notably untrustworthy person in the whole of the City. But it was this very reason that made them perfect on the field. Ezra trusted no one, and hadn't since his father, the previous Captain of the last Shadow Company had been killed, and that fact rankled on Chris's last nerve, he didn't like that one of his team didn't trust him, so it kept him from going over in the heat of battle, the idea of proving, not just anyone, but Ezra, right, that no one could be trusted was enough of an incentive to force his mind to stay human.

The shock of a hard, dark weight at his side threw Ezra off balance, and he cursed desperately as he felt claws ripping into his body, and he barreled off his feet. The Darken gathered, laughing in that guttural, grating way, all waiting to see if he would scream, or cry. Green eyes riveted on the deep crimson of the Darkens, the only true feature of a Darken, the only thing people could remember past the fear and the pain, and he made no sound. He could read the cruelty there, the desire t inflict pain.

He strained against the weight of the Darken, trying to raise his gun, to blast the creature between the eyes, force it back enough to get out.

"Be ready to move Ez." Vin said, his voice calm.

"Thank you Vin." Ezra responded, and as the Darken jerked to the side as Vin's bullet slammed into it's head Ezra was moving, twisting out from under it and quickly forcing himself up before the other darken closed in around him. And the fight continued, fast and bloody, a constant press of motion and darkness, and when it was over they would simply wait for the next time, because there was no end to the Darken. It was a truth Ezra had quickly learned. But that did not mean that he was going to give up, the memory of his father would not let him.

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There, ok, so probably the crappiest fanfic you ever read, but it's surprisingly difficult to meld something like Darken into a short like this. It would be more suited to a much longer fic. But like I said at the top, no can do, I'm trying to get the original book published, so I can't afford to go giving everything away in a fic.

Here's the blurb of the book.

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_Darken, creatures borne of human desire, the darkness that lingers within all of the human race. Feeding off pain, anger, hatred, lust; release of all emotion subdued and cast aside by human fear. They stand as the living, physical proof of humanities evil. They are the future, and no matter what you do to hide from it, no matter what walls you build to keep them away, they will always be there, growing and festering, waiting for the day when you cannot stop the thoughts, dark and cruel, the urges, demanding and twisted, and the actions, quick and deadly._

_They wait, because to the Darken there is no other end but the one they can see so clearly. The humans in their cities can pretend they do not exist, or that they are not to blame for the ruin the world has fallen into. But the Darken know, and deep down, so do the humans. There is no saviour, no relief, nothing but the inevitable end. Resistance means nothing, and it cannot save them, but the human spirit is nothing if not stubborn, and their resistance will make the final defeat all the sweeter._

Mars Morrison Captains the Shadow Company, the only people brave enough to face the Darken head on outside the walls of the Sealed City. But his job becomes far more difficult when the newest member of his team is none other than his younger brother who he has not spent time with in eleven years. Now Mars must reconcile leading his team, whose sole purpose is to fight and kill Darken, and honouring his mothers last wishes to protect his brother, who harbours a dark secret.


End file.
